near misses
Almost-collisions, barely avoided
Near misses are close calls—events that almost happened but didn't.
The phrase usually describes narrowly avoided accidents or disasters: The two planes had a near miss over the airport.
Confusingly, near miss can also mean something that almost succeeded: Her application was a near miss—she made the final round but wasn't selected.
In safety contexts, near misses are documented as warnings of potential future incidents.
- squeakerBarely-won contest
- narrow escapeBarely avoiding disaster
- close callsEvents barely avoided
- dodged a bulletNarrowly avoided serious trouble
- cliffhangersUnresolved dramatic conclusions
close shave · skin of teeth · error prevention · misses · hairbreadth · safety culture · relief · avoidance · aviation · inches · that was close · too close for comfort · situational awareness · harm reduction · accident prevention · scare · heart pounding · almost
- random eventslottery, dice rolls, dice, coin flips, coin toss
- road ragetailgating, honking, cutting off, brake checking, middle finger
- thrillsroller coasters, thrill, adrenaline, skydiving, bungee jump
- gambling psychologygambler's fallacy, loss aversion, illusion of control, chasing losses, sunk cost fallacy
- metricsKPI, metric, KPIs, metrics, statistics
- patient safetypatient safety, medication safety, drug safety, infection control, hand hygiene
near missescollisions
Forceful contacts between objects
crashes · impacts · accidents · head-on collisions · bull's-eyes
near, miss, nearly, nearing, nearest, nearness, nearer, near-miss, near miss